Joyce Jillson

12:01AM BST 07 Oct 2004

Joyce Jillson, who has died aged 57, was an astrologer with an astronomic appetite for publicity.

Her apotheosis came in 1988, when President Reagan's former chief of staff, Donald T Regan, revealed in a book that Nancy Reagan frequently consulted astrologers. Joyce Jillson then claimed to have been invited by Ronald Reagan's campaign aides to advise on who would be the most suitable running mate for the President in the 1980 election.

She had recommended George Bush Snr, she said, on the grounds that "George Bush, a Gemini, was the most compatible [of the vice-presidential candidates] with Reagan, an Aquarian".

Joyce Jillson also claimed to have "spent a lot of time" at the White House after the assassination attempt on the president in March 1981, and confided that the President timed news conferences to coincide with a full moon. The White House admitted that the First Lady was interested in the subject; but the President insisted that "no policy or decision in my mind has ever been influenced by astrology". He added, characteristically: "You know, I'm still looking for the fellows that tell me every day what I'm going to do."

Despite this feeble endorsement, Joyce Jillson became a celebrity overnight.

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She was born at Cranston, Rhode Island, on December 26 1946 (making her a Capricorn). She was only eight when she began to read the stars - even constructing horoscopes for her pet dog - under the aegis of the Boston astrologer, Maude Williams. By the time she was 10, she was predicting political events and the behaviour of the stock market.

Having attended Boston University on an opera scholarship, Joyce Jillson moved to New York to pursue a career on the stage. She won an award as the outstanding Broadway newcomer, starred in The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd opposite Anthony Newley, and then moved to Los Angeles to break into television.

She starred as Jill Smith in the 1960s television series Peyton Place. Later she worked as an adviser on programmes such as The Tonight Show and Good Morning America.

Joyce Jillson had never lost her interest in horoscopes, however, and in 1969 she decided to make it her career. She became the official astrologer to 20th Century Fox Studios, which consulted her on the most propitious days on which to premiere their films.

Other clients included AT & T, ITT and the Ford Motor Company. Ford paid her $500 to tell them on what date they should launch a new model, the Taurus; she suggested June 19, because it was two days before the summer solstice and "the whole universe [was] at its most clear - I give lectures and say 'Use the light of the solstice and the equinox' ". She was also the official astrologer to the Dodgers, the Los Angeles baseball team - on the morning of each of their games she would go on the radio to predict the winner, achieving an accuracy rate of 89 per cent.

Joyce Jillson wrote a daily horoscopes column which was syndicated in more than 200 newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News. She was the author of several books, among them Real Women Don't Pump Gas; The Fine Art of Flirting; and Joyce Jillson's Lifesigns.

In 1969 she married Joseph Gallagher. They divorced in 1981.

Joyce Jillson died of kidney failure on October 1. Her prediction for fellow Capricorns that day was: "You're bound to have a good time and meet interesting people."